{"id":573898871,"date":"2026-03-31T20:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573898871"},"modified":"2026-05-19T00:49:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:49:42","slug":"some-days-you-get-a-lot-of-little-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2026\/03\/31\/some-days-you-get-a-lot-of-little-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Some days you get a lot of little in"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Rituals and Traditions we had a group work day today. At the end of the semester the groups will be delivering big presentations and I’m trying to give them some built-in time to work on their projects. They are presenting ideas to the university’s athletic department. Rituals, traditions, game day atmosphere, and so on. Today I overheard of the few ideas that are percolating. Some of them are going to shape up nicely. <\/p>\n

In Criticism, we talked about two basketball stories that the class selected. First, we had this one, which gave us a nice modern and historical parallel. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 75 years since college basketball’s first major gambling scandal. Not all that much has changed<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Odds are, there won\u2019t be any ads about it over the next three weeks of the NCAA Tournament, but college basketball is celebrating an anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

It was 75 years ago that the New York district attorney announced the arrests of 32 college basketball players as part of a sweeping sting operation into point-shaving that eventually included 86 games, 17 states and $72,000 in bribes \u2013 more than $900,000 in today\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Time is, in fact, a flat circle.<\/p>\n

Three-quarters of a century later, coaches remain aggrieved that their players are equal parts coddled and entitled, and the sport is in the throes of yet another point-shaving scandal. Twenty people are alleged to have hatched a game-fixing scheme that affected 17 teams, 29 games and at least 39 players.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When these stories come up I realize I need to learn more about gambling. “Gambling: bad” only gets you so far. Also, the thing that seems obvious to me is less an issue for others. But we talked about framing and the like, which led nicely into this next story they selected.<\/p>\n

Maryland coach Brenda Frese went viral for yelling at Oluchi Okananwa. There’s more to the story.<\/a> The “more” was a delightful conversation of the function and structure of clickbait, and also curated writing. <\/p>\n

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Just yesterday we had our first outdoor ride of the season. We made it off campus in good order today and that allowed us another nice treat, an after-work ride. The days are getting longer; it’s about time.<\/p>\n

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So we pedaled by the winery, where we will soon return to eat pizza. We cruised through the pastures, where I see my horsey friends, and then turned left to go down the asphalt shoot which is some of the best roadwork around here. We went up to the park, passing empty sheep pastures, and hooked a lovely left uphill into the backside of town. We took the biggest hill around, huffing and puffing in the still-warm sun, and turned onto the road that I rode so incredibly well one time that I turned it into three Strava segments — I have never ridden it well again. Then we breezed by haunted house, down the hill, up the other side, and home. <\/p>\n

It was a lovely, windy, 12-mile stretch of the legs. <\/p>\n

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I’m still living in the happy memories of our wonderful Irish vacation. So, I’m sharing extra videos that we didn’t get to at the time. It was a great vacation. I have a lot of footage. This will go on for some time. Enjoy it with me, won’t you?<\/p>\n